MACFEST was a resounding success, with nearly 3,000 attendees over its 9 days. The festival was celebrating the diversity and richness of Muslim culture and heritage in the UK, with 50 organised events involving local school, colleges and community centres.

Qaisra Shahraz said:

"Through this unique festival, we managed to break down barriers, celebrate arts and bring both Muslim and non-Muslim communities together under one roof. We are incredibly proud of what the festival has achieved in the city of Manchester and hope to continue the work we are doing."

Arcadia Books wins rights to publish Tales of Two Londons: Stories from a Fractured City, edited by Claire Armitstead

19 Oct 2018 - 2 months 1 day ago

Arcadia Books are pleased to announce the acquisition of UK & Commonwealth rights to an anthology of fiction, reportage and poetry. Giving voice to this most contemporary city there are 40 contributions including pieces by Duncan Campbell, Andrew O’Hagan, Jane Shilling...

Arcadia Books are pleased to announce the acquisition of UK & Commonwealth rights to an anthology of fiction, reportage and poetry. Giving voice to this most contemporary city there are 40 contributions including pieces by Duncan Campbell, Andrew O’Hagan, Jane Shilling, Helen Simpson, Ali Smith and a number of previously unpublished immigrants and refugees. Taken together, their stories portray the fabric of the city: its housing, its food, its pubs, its buses, even its graveyards.

There are people working with deprived youth in city, from Kurdish activists, and from tenants’ groups, and with more than a third of the voices belonging to those not born in the UK, this anthology aims to reflect the fact that any city is the sum of its people.

Memoir, reportage, history and several different genres of poetry spark off each other in challenging, invigorating and inspiring ways. Above all, this compelling anthology questions its citizens and draws on the rich mélange of people who inhabit today’s London, both lamenting the unequal way the city treats them and celebrating the vibrant urban life their co-existence delivers.

The anthology’s editor Claire Armitstead writes:

‘I'm thrilled that Tales of Two Londons is being published by Arcadia because, at this critical time in the UK's history, I feel that these voices need to be heard. Though often represented as a privileged city, London is actually a melting pot roiling with the best and worst of us - with anger, humour, hope and despair. By collecting a wide range of writing, from journalists, short story writers and poets, new arrivals as well as established authors, this anthology aims to offer a snapshot of our globalised society in all its complexity - and to demonstrate that a city is everything that exists in its citizens' heads. ‘

Piers Russell-Cobb, the publisher of Arcadia Books commented on the acquisition: ‘These stories connect all of us who live and work in London and make us appreciate the real bonds that connect us rather than the artificial which separate us. We’re continuing our ethic in publishing edgy literary writing from wherever it hails.’

Joe Thomas, critically acclaimed author of Paradise City and Gringa, will be appearing at the Morecambe Crime Festival on Sunday 30th September. Joining the panel alongside Nick Quantrill, William Shaw and Alan Parks, Joe will be discussing his...

Joe Thomas, critically acclaimed author of Paradise City and Gringa, will be appearing at the Morecambe Crime Festival on Sunday 30th September. Joining the panel alongside Nick Quantrill, William Shaw and Alan Parks, Joe will be discussing his background in crime writing, and the way music influences his work.

Alex Wheatle, the critically acclaimed author of Brixton Rock, will be appearing at Wigtown Book Festival on Saturday 22nd September to talk about his latest novel, Home Boys.

Inspired by his own experiences of growing up in care, Home Boys tells the story of four friends who run away from their children's home in search of freedom, but what they discover in the forest will change their lives forever.

Award-winning author Michael Arditti will be at York Explore Library and Archive at 6:30pm on Thursday 13thSeptember to talk about his latest work, Of Men and Angels. The novel explores the history of homophobia in art and religion, with five...

Award-winning author Michael Arditti will be at York Explore Library and Archive at 6:30pm on Thursday 13thSeptember to talk about his latest work, Of Men and Angels. The novel explores the history of homophobia in art and religion, with five interweaving stories from around the globe and across the centuries. Abounding in characters as vivid as they are varied, from temple prostitutes and palace eunuchs, through fanatical friars and humanist poets, to Bedouin tribesmen, Russian exiles and, of course, angels, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, penetrating insight and profound human sympathy.

Here is a video of Ed Gorman speaking at the event for the launch of his debut book, Death of a Translator.

Death of a Translator is a seeringly honest description of a mind haunted and eventually paralysed by the terror of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It follows a young Ed as he naviagtes war-torn Afghanistan and tries to make a name for himself as a news correspondent. After that summer in Kabul province, the young freelancer became a staff reporter for The Times of London, covering conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Gulf, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Balkans but Afghanistan never let him go.

'I have never read anything that so fully and perfectly captured the personal experience and the personal aftermath of war. This is a brave book. Ed Gorman has a lonely struggle, but, excellent reporter that he is, he shows us how the struggle is not his alone.' PJ O'Rourke

‘By turns gripping, enlightening and deeply moving, Ed Gorman’s story should be required reading for any editor in charge of sending journalists into harm’s way.’ Matthew Green, author of Aftershock

St Paul’s Cathedral played host last night to the launch for Darkness Over Germany by Amy Buller, which we at Arcadia Books have republished this year following its original publication in 1943. During the interwar years, Amy Buller travelled frequently to Germany in order to confront and challenge the Nazi ideology head on by speaking both to men and women in thrall to Hitler’s vision and those who were fundamentally opposed but nonetheless continued to serve the nation. Buller recorded these stories in Darkness Over Germany and, following the publication of her book, was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth and King George VI. The educational institute at Cumberland Lodge was established with their support as a place to foster critical thinking by acting as a safe space for ‘controversial’ discussions. 2017 is the 70th anniversary of Cumberland Lodge.

Such a distinguished venue was matched only by the speaker’s panel which included such luminaries as Dr Rowan Williams, Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and Professor Maiken Umbach. The evening began with a compelling reading from Amy Buller’s book, courtesy of Tamsin Greig, whose words of warning and political vigilance surely resonate with our modern troubles. The panel discussion which followed illuminated many of Amy Buller’s concerns with people’s fascination with the ideology of fascism in Germany during the 1930s and drew parallels with the turbulence of our own current affairs.

Above all, the event and discussion succeeded in reminding us all about the importance of establishing safe dialogues that allow us to debate, argue and challenge ideologies that threaten the world we live in.

Darkness Over Germany by E. Amy Buller is now available to buy from all major retailers, including mybooksource.com

Interstate, the second book by Julian Sayarer to be published by Arcadia, has overcome competition including from travel writing legend Paul Theroux to win the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award.

Interstate, the second book by Julian Sayarer to be published by Arcadia, has overcome competition including from travel writing legend Paul Theroux to win the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award.

Chair of Judges, travel writer and biographer Sara Wheeler, said: “The decision was unanimous. Sayarer is a brilliantly thoughtful writer with no shortage of passion and anger. As befits the story of a road trip, the prose is the opposite of pedestrian: it is challenging and enigmatic – its power derives in part from what is left out. One can’t help thinking that the future of travel writing lies in this adventurous, post-modern genre.”

Interstate tells the story of Sayarer, finding a project in New York city cancelled, deciding to hitchhike to San Francisco. Revisiting this timeless American journey finds an unseen nation in rough shape. Along the road are homeless people and anarchists who have dropped out of society altogether, and blue-collar Americans who seem to have lost all meaning in forgotten towns and food deserts. Helped along by roadside communities and encounters that somehow keep a sense of optimism alive, Interstate: Hitchhiking Through the State of a Nation grapples with the fault lines in US society. It tells a tale of Steinbeck and Kerouac, set against the indifference of the vast US landscape and the frustrated energy of American culture and politics at the start of a new century.

Julian Sayarer is an author, journalist, and is often called an adventurer, although normally by other people. He has cycled six times across Europe, hitchhiked across the United States, and in 2009 broke the 18,000-mile world record for a circumnavigation by bicycle. A politics graduate, Julian's writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, New Statesman, Aeon Magazine, and many others, including a host of cycling publications. He writes slow travel, his writing from the roadside a 12mph view of the world in passing.

Reading Europe celebrates The Netherlands on 23 May 2016

Reading Europe celebrates The Netherlands on 23 May 2016

Today marks the Reading Europe Campaign's turn to the Netherlands - including a fantastic title from Arcadia Books.

READING EUROPE FROM UK INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS
There are 24 countries in the EU in addition to the 4 countries in the British Isles and Commonwealth. Before the EU Referendum let us take the opportunity to find out something more about fellow members and neighbours. The recommended titles have been selected to let the reader know the literature, history and culture of each country better.
On 23 May we celebrate The Netherlands.

RECOMMENDED TITLES FOR THE NETHERLANDS
Eline Vere by Louis Couperus, translated by Ina Rilke (Pushkin) 1SBN 978 1 906548 26 1, 528 pages, £12.99
Couperus has often been called the Dutch Oscar Wilde and he is certainly one of the most interesting Dutch authors of his period. Eline Vere and her sister Betsy are wealthy young socialites living in The Hague in the 19th century. Eline attempts to break free from the confines of her narrow existence through tumultuous and ultimately disastrous courtships. This classic novel minutely described the conventions, manners and hypocrisies of society with great richness of description and vivid characterisations.

The Twins by Tessa de Loo, translated by Ruth Levitt (Arcadia) ISBN 978 1 900850 56 8, 392 pages, £6.99
It tells a compelling story of Anna and Lotte twin sisters who following the death of their parents are separated at a very early age. Lotte is sent to stay with her relatives in the Netherlands to recuperate from tuberculosis and Anna stays with relatives in Germany. The story begins with a chance meeting at the health resort of Spa. Both sisters are now in their 70s and have lost contact with each other and in the intervening years the Second World War has taken place. Thus evolves a tale of human suffering, spanning many decades, from both the German and Dutch perspectives, including the hardships endured in the war.

Arcadia Books were delighted to visit the Saint Jordi celebrations hosted by Borough Market and the Catalan Government this Sunday. Not only the patron saint of England, butchers and farmers, St George is also the patron of the Catalan...

Arcadia Books were delighted to visit the Saint Jordi celebrations hosted by Borough Market and the Catalan Government this Sunday. Not only the patron saint of England, butchers and farmers, St George is also the patron of the Catalan region and, in Barcelona, Saint Jordi celebrations are a huge event and involve the giving of books and roses to friends, family and loved ones.

Our own celebrations were particularly tied to the publication of our own Catalan masterpiece: Jaume Cabre's 'Confessions', translated by Mara Faye Lethem, which can be seen here on the stand of the Institut Ramon Llull who helped us fund the translation and promotion of the book! The bookseller at the event was Newham Books.

So, it may be a bit late now, but why not keep the celebrations going and pick up a copy of Cabre's masterful novel in a bookshop near you or online?